The Collectors at the Gate
The best way to repay a debt was, without question, to borrow the emperor’s own hand.
No matter how vast the sum, the emperor would pay it without a word. Yet Dan Hyunwoo had not the slightest intention of doing so.
He was the one who had kicked his position away. He had also let go of the wealth and honors they had offered to keep him. He had left everything behind at the imperial palace.
Asking for help was entirely different from asking to have the things he left at the imperial palace returned.
The councilor was an old subordinate, so I simply called him over quietly.
This debt was a burden Dan Hyunwoo had to bear—whether as the head of the family or as the price for abandoning them for twenty years.
Still, the timing of this particular debt was far too convenient.
He did not believe in convenient things. That was simply how the world worked.
Having experienced every kind of affair in the jianghu while serving the imperial palace, he knew that convenient matters in the martial world were never luck. They were traps laid by someone, with a ninety-nine percent certainty.
Mokhwa Merchant Group. Guryong Sect.
Those two names rolled around in his mouth like thorns.
If that’s the kind of debt this is, there’s no need to repay it all.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
While he was lost in thought, the sound of someone pounding on the door grated loudly against his ears.
Only now did Dan Hyunwoo understand why the main gate of Danga Manor was warped and creaking.
“……!”
At the sound of that knocking, the smiles that had finally returned to his family’s faces froze solid.
They knew all too well what that sound meant. His mother and younger sister broke into cold sweats as though they were having fits. The brief spark of life that had returned to Danga Manor vanished in an instant.
They came faster than I expected.
Dan Hyunwoo stopped Eun Doyun, who was habitually rising to deal with the debt collectors.
“Go inside.”
“If I go out, it might end a little more smoothly. You don’t know how terrifying these debt collectors are, Uncle. They’re Murim warriors who carry swords.”
Even young Eun Doyun knew his uncle had learned martial arts. He had also felt the effects of that strange massage and the Harmonious Strength Qi Regulation Method. But he had no idea how deep his uncle’s realm truly was.
Even if the opponents were only third-rate black path thugs, they lived by the blade. His uncle, on the other hand, might not even measure up to them. That was why a terrible anxiety gripped him.
Eun Doyun stood his ground against the uncle blocking his path.
“Go to your room right now!”
The unexpectedly firm command left Dan Hyunwoo’s lips. Eun Doyun flinched but still hesitated. He was worried about the thick stench of blood that clung to the five men who always traveled in groups.
Dan Seoyeon felt the same. She reached out to stop him, but fear sealed her throat. Only empty words spun uselessly inside her mouth.
Her brother looked like a man who had failed and slunk back to the countryside. No matter how much martial arts he might have learned, she understood exactly what “returning to the countryside” meant. It meant his skill was only at the level that left him no choice but to return.
So Dan Seoyeon rose on trembling legs and turned toward her brother.
But Eun Doyun was faster. He grabbed his uncle’s collar and clung desperately.
“Uncle, you mustn’t open that door!”
“Have I become such a worry after we’ve only just met?”
“How could I not worry? If you get badly hurt, Grandmother will be heartbroken. And I… I don’t want to see you hurt either. You’ve only just come home after twenty years!”
At his nephew’s earnest words, Dan Hyunwoo gave a small laugh.
He had grown up so well and so kindly. Just as Eun Doyun was already precious to him, it seemed the boy had also come to see him as a precious uncle.
A twinge of regret rose in his chest. If he had known this would happen, he would not have used that habitually firm tone.
Slipping free as smoothly as flowing water, Dan Hyunwoo escaped his nephew’s grasp.
“……?!”
Eun Doyun’s eyes widened. His uncle had escaped his grip without seeming to do anything at all. The boy stared blankly at his own empty hand.
Dan Hyunwoo ruffled the boy’s hair with a rough palm.
“Any bad business that happens at Danga Manor, I will handle it all. I’d appreciate it if you remembered that I, too, carry a sword—just like them.”
Dan Hyunwoo headed for the main gate, sword at his side. His family watched with dazed eyes. Somehow he looked both reliable and impressive.
Yet to Eun Doyun, it did not look that way at all.
“Just because someone carries a sword doesn’t mean they’re a master…”
But it was already too late to stop him. The main gate of Danga Manor was swinging open.
Kwak Daesam of the Guryong Sect was pounding on the door with more force than usual.
“Goddamn it, these bastards refusing to open the door and just holding out?”
His third knock left his hand slightly numb. The battered gate looked ready to fall off its hinges any second. But it didn’t matter.
Permission had finally come down from the upper ranks of the Guryong Sect. They had told him to stamp the document in blood and take over Danga Manor—even if it meant killing everyone inside.
They should have done this from the start. They’ve made us suffer for months. Tsk.
He had held back a great deal while dealing with nothing but a little kid. He had visited Danga Manor dozens of times while even hearing rumors that his temper had gone soft. He had endured only because rushing the job would bring consequences.
But today he no longer needed to hold back.
Kwak Daesam knocked once more.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Holding out extra hard today. Did they figure out it’s their funeral day?”
Kwak Daesam lifted his foot. The gate was already wrecked anyway. The higher-ups would cover the repair costs. With that thought, he unleashed a kick.
Yet the moment his fully powered leg was about to strike, the gate swung wide open.
“Hup!”
His leg sliced through empty air. Missing the kick was already humiliating enough, but because he had put too much strength into it, his whole body spun with the momentum. He had a terrible feeling that something even more embarrassing was coming.
Thud!
Having lost his balance, Kwak Daesam collapsed to the ground in an unsightly heap.
Ah! Goddamn it! Why is this premonition never wrong? There’s a limit to how humiliating a person can get!
His face burned scarlet. For men who lived by the sword, nothing was more shameful than falling while attempting a flying kick—except falling while flailing about on your own.
He could clearly see his subordinates barely holding back their laughter. Blood rushed to his head.
You sons of bitches. Just wait.
Swallowing his embarrassment, Kwak Daesam shot to his feet. He tilted his head to see who had suddenly opened the gate and found a young bastard he had never seen before standing there.
The man’s arrogant posture gave off an unpleasant aura. Of course, Kwak Daesam was not the type to be cowed by something so trivial.
“Who the hell are you, popping out of Danga Manor? Huh? Who are you!”
“So you lot are from the Guryong Sect.”
“I asked who you are! Are your ears blocked?”
“Are there only five of you?”
“Who the hell are you, you son of a bitch!”
Instead of answering, Dan Hyunwoo simply chuckled. As if there was no need to explain himself to the likes of them.
That expression drained the last of Kwak Daesam’s patience. The sword he drew without hesitation trembled with rage. The power behind his blade showed exactly how furious he was.
Spitting the words like he was chewing them, Kwak Daesam vented everything inside him.
“I was planning to kill you all anyway, so it doesn’t matter who you are anymore. You dare look down on the Guryong Sect? Fuck, looks like you’ve eaten some sword rice somewhere, but there’s sword rice and then there’s real sword rice. Seems this newborn puppy doesn’t know what happens when it fails to recognize a tiger. Boys!”
“Yes!”
“Teach him what real sword rice tastes like.”
The four men excluding Kwak Daesam drew their swords and surrounded Dan Hyunwoo. The four with scarred faces twitched, radiating killing intent.
One of them stepped forward with a movement technique. As if on signal, Kwak Daesam and the four Guryong Sect warriors charged at Dan Hyunwoo all at once.
Their opponent still had not drawn his sword. He must have been frozen by their swift approach and unable to draw.
Thinking that, one subordinate’s blade flew toward Dan Hyunwoo’s waist.
Dan Hyunwoo moved slowly. He merely lifted his scabbard slightly, and the opponent’s sword bounced away with a clear clang.
At the same moment the metal scabbard deflected the blade, Dan Hyunwoo’s hand struck another Guryong Sect warrior squarely in the face.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
The warrior whose eyes instantly swelled shut flew backward. One man’s leg caught on the body of the fallen warrior, causing him to tumble toward Dan Hyunwoo.
Crack!
Dan Hyunwoo lightly raised his leg and kicked the man’s face. He too flew back with blackened eyes.
At the same time, Dan Hyunwoo slightly lowered his head. A blade whistled past, grazing the tips of his hair.
The problem was that the sword he had dodged was now flying straight at Kwak Daesam.
“Hup!”
For the second time that day, Kwak Daesam sucked in a sharp breath and barely managed to block with his own sword.
Clang!
Nothing was better for an enemy than when allies tangled with each other. Dan Hyunwoo shoved the head of the man who had attacked him, driving it straight into Kwak Daesam’s face.
“Keuk!”
“Argh!”
The moment their heads collided, a sound like a watermelon splitting rang out. Kwak Daesam lost consciousness as his eyes slammed against the sword and bruised. The man who had been used as a ram rolled across the ground with a broken nose.
The last warrior, who had been staring at the four who had fainted in the blink of an eye, felt terror swallow him whole.
This could not be happening. He didn’t know about the others, but Kwak Daesam was considered a fairly skilled expert within the Guryong Sect. Yet his head had been smashed.
“Um… that is… I only came because they told me to follow…”
The last remaining warrior staggered backward. With every step his face grew paler.
Dan Hyunwoo kicked up the sword Kwak Daesam had dropped and hurled it. The spinning blade struck the retreating warrior hard in the face. The man spun three full circles in the air before crashing to the ground.
“Kyaaaack!”
The final warrior fainted with eyes bruised black. No blood had been spilled, yet all five men lay drooling with eyes swollen completely shut.
A short while later, Kwak Daesam regained consciousness.
Yet he couldn’t quite remember why he was lying on the bare ground.
What happened? I wouldn’t have just decided to lie on the dirt for no reason…
Then the memories flooded back.
That’s right. That young bastard came out of Danga Manor acting cocky, so I tried to teach him a lesson, but I got beaten instead.
His memory was hazy from having his head rammed, but the facts were clear. Kwak Daesam recalled the young man’s movements before the collision.
His posture never shifted from its original spot. His hands and feet moved less than a foot. That’s the mark of an expert. Hmm… I’d lose twice out of two fights. Haha, better not pick a fight with him.
The embarrassment had already vanished. The cold ground felt strangely comfortable. He would simply lie here forever.
As he was thinking that, Dan Hyunwoo’s cold voice reached him.
“You’re awake but not getting up. I’ll take that to mean you haven’t had enough beating.”
“Huk!”
All five men shot upright at the same time. Those whose eyes met exchanged awkward glances. It seemed the ground had been quite comfortable for everyone.
Dan Hyunwoo spoke quietly.
“All of you, stand.”
“Yes!”
The five scrambled to their feet with the speed of lightning.
“Lead the way.”
“Huh?”
Kwak Daesam looked at his subordinate with an expression that asked if he understood what that meant. The subordinate answered with a look that said how could they possibly know something their superior didn’t.
Lead the way? What does that mean? No way…
By the time Kwak Daesam caught on, Dan Hyunwoo spoke again.
“Did you not hear me? Guide me to your boss.”
Kwak Daesam and his four subordinates exchanged glances. Kwak Daesam squeezed out what little courage he had left.
“Y-you’re really going? The place where our boss is… that means the main headquarters of the Guryong Sect…”
“Then let’s go. It’s not like you lot would know anything even if I asked.”
Kwak Daesam thought, Of course that’s true. But he could not actually take the man there. If he did, he would die. Whether the boss danced with his blade or this young bastard from Danga Manor unleashed a storm of blood, the only certain outcome was that Kwak Daesam would die.
It felt as if the five of them were hanging from a rotten rope on the edge of a cliff.
I must stop him from reaching the Guryong Sect headquarters!
Kwak Daesam spoke rapidly.
“Even if you go now, the timing isn’t good. Truth is, my boss is nothing special, but a sworn brother of his arrived recently. That man is a real Murim expert. So instead of this, why don’t you hold off for now…”
While he was talking, Kwak Daesam lifted his head to check the young man’s expression.
……?!
The moment their eyes met, Kwak Daesam shut his mouth. He had once heard the phrase “eyes filled with cold energy.” He hadn’t believed it then, but those eyes were now right in front of him. Now he believed it. He believed it with all his heart—enough to kill anyone who didn’t.
If I act tough now, I’ll really die. Fuck, I didn’t just piss myself, did I?
At this rate they would all die and only corpses would remain. He hadn’t even gotten married yet. Bongsoon seemed like she might finally yield to him soon.
Kwak Daesam rolled his brain harder in that brief moment than he had in his entire life.
That’s right. A fist that’s close is always scarier. Better to take him to the Guryong Sect than die here. This guy seems to have learned some martial arts, but he won’t be a match for the boss’s sworn brother.
He could simply talk his way through the situation. He would say he had deliberately brought the man because the boss’s sworn brother was present. He might get a scolding, but that was still better than dying. Even if they made him clean the sect’s toilets for an entire month, he would do it gratefully.
That man is no ordinary expert. He’s one of the top fighters in Hangzhou. I’ve heard few can stand against him. If it’s that person, no matter how skilled this guy is, he’ll clean him up neatly.
Having finished his calculations, Kwak Daesam forced an awkward smile and spread his palm toward the direction of the Guryong Sect headquarters.
“It’s not far. Just a short walk from here.”